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Abstract

To synchronise the elements of a radio interferometer array, a phase stable reference frequency from a central clock is disseminated to the different elements of array. The reference frequency is modulated onto an optical carrier and transported over optical fibre over a distance of up to 12 km. For radio interferometric efficiency, the propagation delay of the transferred reference frequency is required to be stable to less than 3 picoseconds (ps) over 20 minutes. To enable this, the optical fibre transmission line is thermally shielded to minimise length changes due to thermal expansion and contraction on the optical fibre. A test setup and procedure, that measures propagation delay changes to the required accuracy and precision, is required to verify the efficiency of the thermal shielding on the installed optical fibre. This paper describes a method using photonic and radio frequency (RF) components together with an RF vector network analyser (VNA) and post-processing to measure changes in propagation delay on the optical fibre link to sub-picosecond levels. The measurement system has been tested to a stability of < 200 femtoseconds (fs) and a resolution of < 10 fs.

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Journal of Applied Remote SensingJournal of Astronomical Telescopes Instruments and SystemsJournal of Biomedical OpticsJournal of Electronic ImagingJournal of Medical ImagingJournal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMSJournal of NanophotonicsJournal of Photonics for EnergyNeurophotonicsOptical EngineeringSPIE Reviews